ISI seeks funds from industry

Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) has started generating revenue through alliance with industry in line with the Centre's recommendation that advised the premier institute to be self-sufficient.

ISI has struck deals with L&T and Iranian auto maker, Khodro, for providing quality management as well as training.

The L&T deal required the institute to dedicate 52-60 mandays a year while the Iranian agreement wanted it to work 400 mandays a year. The Iranian auto giant was to give ISI a fee of $ 400 per manday.

K B Sinha, director, ISI said the institute, which had an annual budget of Rs 60 crore inclusive of plan and non-plan expenditure, had not so far been able to market itself properly, unlike another premier institute IIT.

But that marketing ability did not enrich IIT as far as its research works were considered.

"IITs' research work has gone down the drain," he said pointing his figure to the money-centric attitude of IITs. He explained that a sizable portion of IITs' former students joined the industry while that of ISI chose to be in academics.

But ISI, he said, bore paramount importance in the creation of knowledge in India as well as abroad.

Sinha found that Indian industry had been continuing to be a mere trading industry rather than coming up as a manufacturing one. " Domestic industry has a profit-making approach that can not be the sole guiding force of a manufacturing sector. A manufacturing industry needs a vision of at least 20 years, " he said.

He was talking to the media on the sidelines of an industry-ISI meet here .

The meet, third of its kind, was organised in line with the Centre's directive to be related to ISI's efficacy and necessity in industry. Two other such meets were held in Delhi and Bangalore.